Public Services and Procurement Canada
Responses to parliamentary committees and external audits: 2018 to 2019 Departmental Results Report

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Government response to the 15th report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Report

Modernizing Federal Procurement for Small and Medium Enterprises, Women-Owned and Indigenous Businesses

Government response

Government response to report 15, Modernizing Federal Procurement for Small and Medium Enterprises, Women-Owned and Indigenous Businesses (PDF, 1.13MB)

Summary

On October 31, 2017, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates undertook a study of federal procurement on how to improve access to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and Indigenous businesses. In the course of its study, the committee held 16 meetings, heard from 70 witnesses and received 13 briefs.

The committee's study reviewed the federal government procurement process and outlined the main challenges of the current procurement process along with the principal barriers preventing SMEs, women-owned and Indigenous businesses from accessing federal contracts.

In its report presented to the House of Commons on June 20, 2018, the committee made 40 recommendations to improve the federal government procurement process. The committee pointed to 5 main challenges with the current system:

The government response to Report 15, Modernizing Federal Procurement for Small and Medium Enterprises, Women-Owned and Indigenous Businesses, signed by the then-titled Minister of Public Services and Procurement, was presented to the committee on October 18, 2018.

Government response to the 53rd report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Report

Report 1, Building and Implementing the Phoenix Pay System, of the 2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada

Government response

Government response to the fifty-third report entitled: Report 1, Building and Implementing the Phoenix Pay System, of the 2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada (PDF, 616KB)

Summary

In the spring of 2018, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit whose purpose was to determine whether Public Services and Procurement Canada "effectively and efficiently managed and oversaw the implementation of the new Phoenix pay system."

On June 14, 2018, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the committee) held a hearing on this audit. Similarly to the OAG Audit, the committee stated that "…the development and implementation of the Phoenix pay system was an incomprehensible failure."

In its report presented to the House of Commons on November 19, 2018, the committee made 6 recommendations—4 to Public Services and Procurement Canada, one to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and one to the Government of Canada.

Specifically, the committee recommended the following 6 items be reported on:

The government response to report 53, entitled: Report 1, Building and Implementing the Phoenix Pay System, of the 2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, was signed by the then-titled Minister of Public Services and Procurement and presented to the committee on March 19, 2019.

Government response to the 58th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Report

Report 2, Disposing of Government Surplus Goods and Equipment, of the 2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada

Government response

Government response to the fifty-eighth report entitled: Report 2, Disposing of Government Surplus Goods and Equipment, of the 2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada (PDF, 499 KB)

Summary

In the spring of 2018, the OAG released a performance audit whose objective was to determine "whether selected federal organizations disposed of surplus goods and equipment at the appropriate time in a manner that maximized benefits. These benefits include selling assets for the best possible return, reusing or refurbishing assets that were still in good condition, donating assets to organizations that could benefit from them, and disposing of assets in an environmentally sustainable way." The federal organizations selected for study were the Canada Revenue Agency, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Shared Services Canada, based on their size and level of GCSurplus usage.

On November 5, 2018, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts held a hearing on this audit. The committee concluded that the federal organizations selected by the OAG for this audit "did not always dispose of surplus goods and equipment in a manner that maximized benefits. The incentives to sell surplus assets outweighed other methods, such as reusing, refurbishing, and donating."

The committee was concerned upon learning that the OAG was "unable to conclude on whether the selected federal organizations disposed of surplus goods and equipment at the appropriate time because organizations did not maintain sufficient documentation."

The committee made the following 4 recommendations in its report presented to the House of Commons on February 6, 2019, to help ensure that federal organizations improve their management of surplus assets. The committee request that the implicated departments submit a report outlining their revised:

The government response to report 58, entitled: Report 1, Building and Implementing the Phoenix Pay System, of the 2018 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, was signed by the then-titled Minister of Public Services and Procurement and presented to the committee on June 6, 2019.

Government response to the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages

Report

14th report entitled: Issues Related to French-Language Training in the Field of Nursing

Government response

Government response to the fourteenth report entitled: Issues Related to French-Language Training in the Field of Nursing (PDF, 1.25 MB)

Summary

In 2015, the provincial and territorial regulatory bodies responsible for the nursing profession in Canada, except the one for Quebec, adopted the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN). The NCLEX-RN is an exam that registered nurses must pass in order to practice nursing in Canada (outside of Quebec). It "replaced the bilingual Canadian exam, which was created a long time ago by the Canadian Nurses Association." The provinces and territories chose the NCLEX-RN because it was available in electronic form.

In May 2017, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages became aware that nursing graduates who choose to take the NCLEX-RN in French have a much higher rate of failure than those who take it in English.

Although regulating nursing falls to the provinces and territories, this issue is of interest to the committee. The committee plays an oversight role in advancing the official languages.

The committee put for the following recommendations in their report which was presented to the House of Commons on November 21, 2018:

The government response to the 14th report entitled: Issues Related to French-Language Training in the Field of Nursing, was co-signed by the then-titled Minister of Public Services and Procurement and presented to the committee on June 6, 2019.

Government response to the 32nd report of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance

Report

32nd report entitled: The Phoenix Pay Problem–Working Toward a Solution (PDF, 2.8MB)

Government response

Government response to the 32nd report entitled: The Phoenix Pay Solution – Working Toward a Solution (PDF, 4MB)

Summary

The Standing Senate Committee on National Finance held 8 meetings with 28 witnesses, including the Auditor General of Canada, union representatives, departments and agencies, officials from IBM, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and the Clerk of the Privy Council. The committee also visited the Public Service Pay Centre office in Miramichi, New Brunswick.

The committee's report presented to the Senate on July 31, 2018 outlines the following 5 recommendations:

The government response to the 32nd report entitled: The Phoenix Pay Problem – Working Toward a Solution, was signed by the then-titled Minister of Public Services and Procurement and presented to the committee on February 22, 2019.

Government response to the 27th report of the Standing Senate Committee on internal economy, budgets and administration

Reports

Government response

Government response to the 27th Report of the Advisory Working Group on the Parliamentary Translation Services (PDF, 1.32MB)

Summary

On September 21, 2017, the Advisory Working Group on the Parliamentary Translation Services was established. The advisory working group was given the mandate to review the Service Agreement for Language Services with the Translation Bureau of Public Services and Procurement Canada in order to improve the service level and the quality of the translation and interpretation services offered to the Senate.

In its report presented to the Senate on March 15, 2018, the committee made a number of recommendations to address concerns around the inconsistency and quality control of translation, errors in translation and differences between the 2 language versions of committee reports.

The Translation Bureau fully collaborated with the Advisory Working Group on Parliamentary Translation Services. Representatives of the Translation Bureau met 3 times with the working group and presented a series of measures to improve the quality of its services. These measures focused on strengthening the relationship between the bureau and the Senate through a personalized approach and on the importance of a timely feedback process for handling complaints. The Translation Bureau presented a report to the advisory group on March 20, 2018.

The government response to the 27th report of the Advisory Working Group on the Parliamentary Translation Services was signed by the then-titled Minister of Public Services and Procurement and presented to the committee on October 5, 2018.

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